Based on the concept of scarcity, has the mass introduction of digital publishing validated and justified the higher price point of print books?
#BEA11: Mark Twain May Be Dead, but Print Books Aren’t
By Erin L. Cox At BEA, “The Report of My Death Was Exaggerated — Book Edition” panel did just what the Mark Twain quote did years ago: chastise the media for being too quick to decree the death of print publishing. Though it’s difficult to ignore the e-books are selling like hotcakes, three publishers and one bookseller proved that, for …
Are Publishers Underestimating the Desirability of Print?
By Edward Nawotka In today’s lead story, research by Forrester revealed that more than half of publishing executives in the USA anticipate e-books will be the dominant format by 2014. While the exact meaning of the word “dominant” can be debated, it nevertheless suggests a radical shift in consumer habits away from print to digital. It also anticipates widespread use …
Forrester’s James McQuivey Says Digital Publishing is About Economics, Not Format
By Hannah Johnson Last week, James McQuivey of Forrester Research wrote a blog post summarizing Forrester’s new five-year forecast for e-books in the USA, which predicts that digital book sales would reach $3 billion by 2015, thus drastically altering the publishing industry. In this post, McQuivey also predicted that digitization will happen “faster in book publishing than in any other …
When Is an Ebook No Longer a Book?
By Edward Nawotka In today’s editorial, Deborah Willis writes,”In a world where people read on electronic devices, books may become mash-ups of media, including music, video, and possibly advertising.” Is there a point when an e-book — augmented, apped and pushing advertising — is no longer a book? Read the story and let us know what you think in comments.
Bound Books vs. Ebooks, That is Still the Question
• Canadian author and bookseller Deborah Willis discusses the differences between bound books and e-books. • Willis argues “when books become computers, they will no longer be books.” Ultimately, she feels computers and the web are not well-suited to storytelling and diminish the experience of reading itself. Editorial by Deborah Willis VICTORIA, B.C.: The bound book is an ancient, heavy, …